new media and learning

Thursday, December 2nd, 2004

Susan Gibb at Spinning sums New Media 1: Perspectives up quite nicely in this post. Here’s a large slice of analysis

Perhaps one of the reasons that I more readily accepted the perspectives of the new media course is that it closely aligned the future with the past, tracing a historical record of narrative through art, language, literature and cinema. This (as has oft been seen here) is the manner in which I personally absorb new materialby relating it to the past or what is known and familiar, and building it up from there as well as applying it backwards in time to get at the roots. Snips of films, artwork through the ages, comic books, and computer generated productions such as video games and movies where computer animation was of primary importance were shown and explained in their use of media methods established by both the story and the particular advantages of their nature. The basics were throughout each medium; story arc, plot points of conflict, scene change, environments, and resolution, yet each was dependent upon a different means to get there.

Breaking down the story into segments of time and environment, lifting the layers to discover how they were interleaved to make it whole, seeing the work in its barest form and fully clothedthis is what impressed me most; this and the fact that it did not rob the story of its impact by seeing the parts disassembled.

From there, I took the learning back into my own world of what I consider realitythe trees, my home, the people I run into dailyand could look beneath the surfaces with some sort of x-ray eyes that penetrated to the core of common sights that otherwise are just existing without special notice taken.

To learn the nuances of one means of communication is to better understand the others. To learn them all concurrently is to understand the human mind itself a little better than before, and to question where it can go based upon where it has been.

Susan grasps the “teaching team’s” intent in bringing the course and program forward to the Tunxis community. She tells the “plot” of the course. She grasps the importance of the conceptual nuance (and I think she remembers some of the sticky moments).

I commend her leadership and performance in the course and her willingness to learn and teach.

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One response to “new media and learning”

Thank you for the gracious acknowledgement. This course was so insightful in tying in all that came before, and yet offers a bridge to a new world. New Media appears to be where “it’s happenin’ ” and the method in which you, John Timmons, and Bill Kluba presented it was in logical steps with a handrail of history to hold onto for support. On the down side, there was so much else that was planned to be included that there never seemed time enough to cover it all. I would suggest to others within the course to delve into some of the material mentioned on the syllabus regardless of its non-required status–the many weeks of learning will easily reveal the meaning and purpose of the medium even without the benefit of classroom discussion.

The other downside: It’s run me into additional costs of approximately $3k for that Latitude plus programs and media in order to properly implement what I’ve learned and intend to further discover. Well worth the outlay in the opportunities the course offers for the future.